Long Peace

Although since the early 19th century Lebanon has been one of the most turbulent areas of the world, the period of 60 years between the civil war of 1860 and the beginning of the French mandate in 1920, saw a long peace. Engin Akarli's book looks at these crucial years and at the socio-political changes that resulted from the shifting alliances that characterized the period. Akarli describes the ways in which non-violent means of conflict resolution encouraged the creation of a governmental system that set Ottoman Lebanon apart from its neighbours in the years after 1860. He argues that indigenous Lebanese experience in self-rule as well as reconciliation among different religious groups after 1860 laid the foundation for secular democracy. This revisionist history with interpretation, emphasizes the ways in which participation in the state-building process by all social and religious groups during this period, helped generate a sense of common political identity and prevented the outbreak of internal strife and external intervention. The long peace came to a sad end in 1920 when the thorny issues of nationalism and political control once again came to the fore.